ČKA has a representative in the board of the European Council of Architects

The Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA) has its representative on the board of the European Council of Architects (ACE). This position was held by Ing. arch. Pavel Martinek for the period of 2018 to 2019, a long-time member of the working group on Foreign Activities and former 2nd Vice-President of ČKA.

The European Council of Architects unites architectural organizations recognized by individual states (especially Chambers) at the European level. Its activities include commenting on European legislation and addressing issues common to the architecture profession across Europe, such as education, mobility, or competitions. It also provides useful information to chambers and their members about individual national organizations, ongoing competitions, or developments in member countries in the field of architecture. Together, ACE represents the interests of nearly 600,000 architects through its organizations.

ACE Operations
Membership in the ACE board itself is a prestigious matter. The board consists of 10 members and a chairperson. Half of the board is elected, while the remaining part is nominated by national Chambers based on a so-called rotational principle, which ensures organizations have the right to have their representative on the board for a certain period. The chairperson is elected directly by the General Assembly.
Individual organizations engage in activities within ACE based on the level of their interest. It is therefore up to their decision whether they prefer to be observers or active members of working groups in which they want to participate. The voting on the outputs of the working groups takes place at the General Assembly, according to the number of votes recalculated based on the population of the respective country. The Czech Republic contributes significantly in terms of votes, comparable to half of all participating countries. From this perspective, the position of Czech architects is not negligible. Ing. arch. Pavel Martinek has so far been involved in the ACE working group focused on standards and insurance. The result of this work has been a contribution simplifying our standards, as well as insights into foreign legislative measures that ČKA utilizes during negotiations on the amendments to our laws. "Activity in working groups has a fundamental influence on the form of the agenda discussed. The level of a country’s activity in the working group is more important than the size of the country," explained Pavel Martinek.
The new chair of ACE is Austrian Georg Pendl, who succeeded Luciana Lazzari after four years. Georg Pendl is an architect from Innsbruck and a long-time promoter of architectural competitions within European legislation. His working group has created a template for common competition procurement conditions. With Pendl's leadership, ČKA hopes for a greater focus on the practical aspects of the architect's profession.
In addition to the Czech Republic, which could nominate its candidate to the board again after seven years, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia, and France also had the right to do so this year. Spain, Croatia, Finland, Estonia, and Romania have elected representatives for the upcoming term.

Addressed Agenda
The organization is currently addressing two main agendas: legislative and environmental packages. "In the field of legislation, ACE is currently concerned with supporting the preservation of the existing model of regulation of the profession according to the customs of the respective country. Regarding the so-called environmental package, consultations are taking place to amend the EPBD law on energy savings in buildings, where unfortunately the bill anticipates tightening the rules regarding the assessment of energy labels. Furthermore, it addresses the support of electromobility or the necessity of adapting connections of buildings to smart energy grids or their remote management," informed Martinek. "This is the area I want to focus on primarily. To highlight the negative impacts of the currently universally applied thermal insulation of buildings, where further tightening of regulations without consideration of the specifics of already existing buildings or a clear methodology for holistic assessment is not entirely appropriate," Pavel Martinek added regarding his priorities.
The last representative of ČKA on the ACE board was between 2008 – 2010 when Ing. arch. Dalibor Borák served on the council.

Ing. arch. Pavel Martinek (*1973)
He comes from Zlín, studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University from 1993 to 1999. He developed his diploma thesis in the studio of Prof. Ladislav Lábus. During his studies, he was the organizer of the "Summer School of Architecture" in Zlín and completed an internship at the studio 1100 Architects in New York. He currently works as an independent architect in his own studio Martinek/architect. He began closely collaborating with ČKA in 2012 based on the initiative to present foreign practices in standards and legislation. In the years 2015-2017, he was the 2nd Vice-President of ČKA, where he advocated for the creation of a format for regular meetings of representatives of Central European Chambers, opened discussions on changes to standards, and was a member of the first year’s panel for the Czech Architecture Award.

Czech Chamber of Architects
ČKA is a self-governing professional association with delegated performance of state administration, established by Act No. 360/1992 Coll., on the performance of the profession of authorized architects and the performance of the profession of authorized engineers and technicians active in construction. ČKA is responsible for the professional, expert, and ethical performance of the profession of architects in the Czech Republic. Since the beginning of 2015, the Chamber has been the official commenting body for laws, legal regulations, and rules concerning the profession of the architect. Since January 2016, it has been the organizer of the competitive exhibition Czech Architecture Award. The Chamber also organizes a Diploma Thesis Showcase and a number of other events.